I Hate You
by Serindeputy
Summary: The two have grown apart since Arthur Kirkland moved back to England. Now with his brother, Matthew Williams, Alfred Jones has ended up in England. As they reunite the unexpected happens. USUK Modern AU
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Heeeeeeyyyyy. I couldn't wait! I immediately wanted to post this…. TOO MUCH WORK, but that's ok. BUT NOW I MUST WORK ON TWO STORIES…. But I love my writing (conceited much?) Anyway, again it's not christmasssy, but I wrote this a while ago, so…yeah. Yay USUK…. I am a literally a piece of trash. Oh well~ Enjoy~**

Chapter 1

Arthur walked along the side of the gloomy beach letting the damp sand squish through his bare feet. The clouds were gray as usual, but the wind felt good on Arthur's skin. With a book in hand, he decided he had had enough of walking and started looking for a good reading spot without many people. He thought about a quiet café, but the wind felt so good to him so he decided to stay outside. Arthur found his favorite tree in the park and sat on the wooden bench that resided under it. He opened up his book and started to read, sighing in content.

Arthur wasn't sure how long he was reading, he had only gotten through about half of it before the wind picked up and the skies grew darker. It was a surefire sign of an oncoming storm, so Arthur stood up stretching slightly and started walking down the path to his flat.

As Arthur expected, it had started pouring and thundering to no end. He had made it to a busy street and there were many people rushing around and about. Not looking where he was going, Arthur bumped into someone, and managed to drop his book into a puddle, thoroughly ruining it. Just as Arthur was going to yell at the man for running into him and ruining his book, the man had already disappeared. Arthur picked up his sopping wet book and walked quickly back to his flat.

Arriving at his flat, Arthur had stripped of his jacket and hung it up. Grabbing a towel he proceeded to dry off his hair to the best of his abilities. He then turned on the television to the current football match that was going on. Then, he proceeded to put a pot of water on the stove and boil it for tea.

After finally settling down with his cup of tea, Arthur looked at his wet book and sighed. He had gotten another copy just in case, but it still upset him that one of his books got ruined. He opened his extra copy to the page he left on and began to read. He read and read until he had finished the book. The tea and television were long since gone and forgotten and he carefully placed the finished book down with a smile.

Then he grabbed his computer and opened a new document. He began typing a review for the book. Arthur often wrote reviews for the newspaper and his own blog. He was one of the more famous reviewers and he got a pay out of it. He liked to call it a job, but he still worked at the local library part time.

~O~O~O~O~O~O

During break at the library the bushy eyebrowed brit decided to look at the new books that just come in and picked one of them out. Looking at the inside he found the book to be quite interesting and decided to check it out later. Hearing the bell on the door Arthur looked up to welcome the person in. He was stopped short, however by the appearance of the man before him.

The man was almost identical to a childhood friend of his, who had moved to America for college. He had the same dark blond hair and radiant blue eyes. He had gotten glasses since Arthur had last seen him. He had been stunned into silence.

"Uh… bro? Are you okay? I've been asking about this book and you haven't answered." An American accent sounded in the direction of the man.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to space out, I was just thinking about this new book I saw." Arthur replied quickly a light shade of pink spreading across his face.

"Oh cool!" The blonde responded with enthusiasm before he suddenly stopped thinking for a second, "Hey, have I seen you somewhere? You look really familiar."

"Actually I was thinking the same thing. You wouldn't happen to be named Alfred would you?" The Brit asked cautiously not sure of what he would do if the American wasn't who he thought he was.

"That's me! The hero!" The American, Alfred yelled loudly, too loudly. Arthur cringed. "So that means you're Arthur, right? Dude! I have so much to tell you!" Alfred yelled at the bushy eyebrowed man.

Arthur smiled slightly, "How about after I finish my shift here? I think I would enjoy a nice chat over tea."

"Tea? Dude you're such a British man! Coffee is way better than tea!" Alfred continued to yell like he had no volume change and his constant voice was a yell.

Arthur was slightly annoyed at his comment but decided to ignore it. "So what book did you want to check out again?"

Alfred's face was blank before his face lit up, "Right! I found this book and it looked pretty good! I liked the cover and it seems like it has major action!"

Arthur looked at the book, it was the same one he had wanted to check out, "Bollocks." He mumbled under his breath so the other blonde wouldn't hear. "Really? I saw today too and I wanted to read it as well, tell me about it when you're finished?"

"Yeah sure. Yo, I'll meet you when your shift ends, kay?" The childhood frenemy said cheerfully.

"Yeah, sound good." Arthur said warily. "I'll see you then."

 _To be continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hi, it's me. I'm back, posting another chapter. Enjoy!**

Chapter 2

A few hours later Arthur had said goodbye to his co-workers and headed out of the library. He walked over to the quiet café and got himself a nice cup of earl gray tea. It was really the only reason he like the café. It was quiet which he enjoyed to best of his abilities. Arthur presently went back to his tea thinking about the meetup with Alfred.

Not much longer after, Alfred walked in with curiosity clearly evident in his eyes, but as the exact moment he looked at the Brit, his eyes turned brighter. "Yo! Arthur!"

Arthur was slapped out of his thought by the rambunctious voice of the American, "Oh… Hello Alfred. Why don't you get yourself a cup of tea or coffee and then we can chat."

Alfred completely ignored the bushy eyebrowed man and sat down next to him. Instead of arguing, Arthur decided to just ignore it and he sighed, laughing a little, "Remember? We wouldn't ever think of doing this back then. We only just fought the whole time. How silly."

"I don't think it's all that silly." Alfred said seriously. It shocked Arthur a little, but stayed silent waiting for Alfred to go on. "I didn't ever really want to fight, but I guess it just happened." The dark blonde laughed nervously.

"So…" Arthur felt extremely awkward and had no idea how to go about having a conversation with Alfred.

"Hey… tell me why you fought with me. I wanted to know if you hated me or something. I always wondered what happened in high school. We drifted apart, I want to know why." The American was never serious, so this must've meant something to him.

Arthur remembered the times in high school when they would fight. It would always be over stupid things like homework or grades. He remembered the pranks the dark blonde would pull on him when he wasn't expecting it. Arthur remembered the worst of the fights; it wasn't even about anything in particular. Lines were crossed and things were said.

"Oi! You bloody idiot! If you keep your grades like that, then you're never going to get a job!" A teenage Arthur sneered.

"Really? Because I think colleges would rather me over your stuck-up British ass!" Alfred yelled from across the classroom.

"Tch. I sincerely doubt it. I wouldn't even waste your time on it, fatty." The Brit growled.

"I am not fat!" The American yelled indignantly. Alfred was slightly overweight, definitely noticeable, but he was overly self-conscious about it, but his overall self-confidence outshined his insecurities.

"You sure are! You're just too stupid to realize it! I don't even know why you have friends at all. Maybe they just pity you." The bushy eyebrowed Brit spat at him.

Alfred's eyes widened as he let out a slight gasp, he burned bullets into the blonde's eyes, "You know, my life would be so much easier if you weren't even alive. I seriously meant that, you have ruined my life!" The blued-eyed American rushed out in pure anger.

Arthur just stood there in shock, not knowing what to do. He left school without saying a word after letting the situation sink in. "No, I don't need to have people approve of me; I can do what I want, how I want, when I want." He walked back home, slamming the door.

~O~O~O~O~O~O

"I need to leave." The green-eyed man stood up, not looking at the American.

"What? You just got here!" Alfred pouted and looked at the Brit.

Arthur glared at the American, "I have other things I need to do."

"But, dude!" Alfred tried desperately.

"Well…" Arthur paused looking at the ground, "See you later, I guess." He then proceeded to walk out of the café. Without looking back, Arthur walked back home, slowly and begrudgingly. His evening and afternoon were clear and he had no idea what to do.

Just in luck, the doorbell rang, then quickly again, and again, and soon there was a barge of doorbell rings to his door. He walked up to the door, slightly relived, and slightly annoyed and opened it.

Then shut it and locked it as quickly as he could, panic settling in the blonde.

"How did you find my house, wanker?!" Arthur asked panicked.

"I followed you, duh! Now let me in, bro!" Alfred whined.

"No! Why should I?" The bushy-browed blonde yelled in frustration.

"Dude!" The American dragged out, "Just let me in, or at least tell me why you left so suddenly!" He pleaded.

"No." The Brit said defiantly.

There was a long silence, Arthur sighed in relief. That solid second of relief was burned to the ground by the sound of a window being opened. Arthur quickly ran to the source of the noise only to see the American shoving himself through the small opening of the window.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing?!" The bushy-browed Brit yelled.

"It was unlocked- oh crap! I think I'm stuck." Alfred's face visibly paled.

Arthur's did too, "You can't be stuck!" Arthur started pushing the American out of the window, but it didn't seem to work.

"Well… since I'm stuck and this is your house, why don't you tell me why you left?" Alfred smirked, it hadn't been his original plan to do this, but it was worth a shot.

"Why you little son of a-"

"Tell me why you left today or I'll just pester you until I can figure out how to get out without getting splinters.

The Brit scoffed at that, "With a wooden window? I doubt you won't get splinters."

The Blonde groaned, "Great. Now tell me why you left, now."

"How about no?" Arthur said turning around and crossing his arms.

"Please. Pleeeeease. Bro come on! Just tell me, I don't see what the big deal is!" Alfred pouted.

Arthur stood there, his back facing the American for a long time, before sighing in defeat, "Fine. You really just are too insistent. Right before I left, I remembered a bad memory from high school, the one right before I started skipping classes and such." He paused not knowing how to form his sentence, a red hue forming on his face, "I… Look, I…" He sighed in frustration as his face became slightly darker, "I'm sorry, okay?" The blonde mumble barely loud enough so the strangely quiet American could hear him.

Arthur always hated admitting defeat, or saying he was wrong, or apologizing. So when he rarely did, it was a big embarrassment for him in many different ways. The embarrassment only added more because it was to the ever-so-slightly overweight American.

"Dude? No need to be embarrassed, it was just coffee." Alfred said bluntly, not getting the point Arthur had tried.

"Shuh-Shut up!" The Brit said, gaining a new record shade of red. "I am not embarrassed! And besides…" He sighed, face palming, "Never mind you wouldn't get it."

"Dude? What was that about? Also, would you mind helping me out of the window frame? I am still stuck… and it's starting to hurt."

 _To be continued._


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Heyo. Merry Holidays! I hope you're having a good one! I'm having a strange one, weather be like, "Bitch, I don't know who you think I am, but Imma change on you!" Yeah, the weather's being kind of… stupid. Here's the next chapter!**

 **Enjoy:**

 _Chapter 3_

" _Dude? What was that about? Also, would you mind helping me out of the window frame? I am still stuck… and it's starting to hurt."_

Arthur groaned loudly, "Fine, but I'm going to call a professional." The grumpy Brit stalked off and called someone to remove the door frame to get Alfred out.

Meanwhile, Alfred sat there looking around the inside of the bushy-eyebrowed Brit. He smiled slightly, remembering the times they would fight pointlessly in middle and high school. "Still the same I see…" Alfred mumbled under his breath his smile growing ever so slightly.

"What was that?" Arthur had just walked in, an annoyed expression on his face.

Now it was the American's turn to turn red and be flustered. Instead of showing his flushed face he laughed, awkwardly and forced at first before bursting into actual laughter.

The British man just stood there, a frown had settled itself on his face, "Whatever you're laughing at, could you shut up for the moment, I have some…." He paused, thinking about how to say the rest, "news."

The American looked up, shutting himself up, "What's up?" Alfred still had a goofy looking smile despite the silent room.

"You're going to be stuck in that window for a while." The bushy-eybrowed blonde stated.

Alfred groaned, "How long? Dude, I swear if it's any more than an hour then I'll-"

"Four hours, Alfred. Four. Hours." Arthur cut him off gritting his teeth and sighing.

"Nonononononono! Frick! Man, my bro Matthew is going to kill me! We were going to watch a _hockey_ game. AND he was really excited about it!" Alfred started yelling and tearing up.

"Calm down, I've met Matthew, he's the nice quiet kid, right? He wouldn't hurt anyone." Arthur said trying to quiet down the slightly over-weight man.

The glasses clad man gasped, "Not when it comes to hokey, because when it comes to hockey, Matthew could _kill."_ The blue-eyed man looked at the Brit with sheer terror.

"You're over exaggerating! I'm sure he might get a little upset, but he wouldn't come after you for it." Arthur said surely. "What time does the game start?"

"What time is it?" Alfred asked shakily.

The blonde Brit glanced at the clock, "Eighteen hundred."

"DUDE!" The American yelled, "I need the right time! Don't make up some random hour!"

"I'm telling the truth! You just can't understand what the rest of the world uses!" The Brit shot back.

"Ugh, whatever dude, just can you put into American terms?" The glasses clad man frowned.

Arthur stood in his spot for a while thinking, "I'm not sure but I think it's six in the evening for you, but there's another difference which I believe is around five hours, hold on… you said you were going to watch the game with Matthew. Does that mean Matthew is in the UK as well?"

"Yeah, it's the whole reason I'm here. He's visiting someone in the UK and he decided to take me with him. Also if it's six here, the game starts at one there… so that means…" Alfred was sharply cut off by the sound of his phone going off. "Ah, shit man! That's probably Mattie! I am so dead!" The overweight American started freaking out. "Grab my phone will ya? It's in the front pocket of my jacket!"

"Well, why can't you?!" Arthur threw back.

"Um, I don't know, maybe my HANDS are stuck! If you've forgotten I'm kind of stuck in the window frame!"

"Well it's your bloody jacket, wanker!" The bushy-browed Brit denied.

"Duuuude! I kind of need to answer! It's Mattie and I need to give an explanation so he doesn't kill me!" Alfred argued, squirming.

"Bloody hell, Alfred!" The grumpy Brit yelled, "You know what? Fine, I'll pick up that damned phone for you!"

Arthur went over to the squirming American and sighed grabbing the phone out of the pocket. Arthur looked up only to see the American's face right next to his.

Acting on instinct, Arthur shoved the phone in Alfred's face and screamed quietly, face exploding. "There's the phone you bloody wanker!" With a volcanic face he yelled quite loudly.

The glasses clad man had yelped in surprise along with the thick browed man. Looking for the phone, he found that it was on the counter, just out of reach.

The phone stopped ringing.

"OH SHIT!" An obnoxious scream came from the American.

 _To be Continued._


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Okay. This is late. I know. And this is short. I know. But, there is a backstory in this, and I thought it would be better to split the backstory into two parts! I practically poured my sould into the backstory, so it better be good! Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

"Calm dow-" Arthur tried.

"No! This is NOT good! I am SO FREAKING DEAD! What am I going to do? I should call back and apologize… wait then he'd yell at me… what about-" Alfred was yelling at the top of his lungs, almost crying, and freaking out.

"SHUT UP!" Arthur yelled at the top of his lungs.

Alfred just sniffled in response.

The Brit sighed for the millionth time today, "Look, just ignore it for now and deal with it later, I don't want to have to hear your blubbering anymore." He glared at the overweight man.

Said man just looked at the grumpy man in the eye and said nothing. Alfred stared at the brit with a shocked expression in his eyes, while the rest of his face remained in a confused state.

Arthur was taken aback by the seriousness in the other man's face. The bushy-browed man just continued to watch the American blonde with confusion.

Alfred was lost in thoughts; he had tried so hard to forget that part of Arthur. He was confused at why he remembered it now of all times though, his mind was in a completely different place. Alfred just tried to push to the back of his mind and thoughts, but it was like it fought back. The memories flooded his brain without his allowance.

Arthur's punk phase.

It wasn't long, no, not very long at all, but _everyone_ knew about his little phase. Arthur didn't show up at school for another week which kind of depressed Alfred. He still tried to act normal, but most people could tell he was acting off.

When Arthur came to school wearing a ripped, tightly fitted t-shirt with a spiked leather jacket, his union jack pants, parts of his hair dyed green and multiple piercings found on his eyebrows and ears. It was almost hard to look at.

 _The overweight American had prepared himself to apologize after that fight they had before the brit had left school. After seeing the stuck up brit's "transformation", he almost backed out. It took a couple of day to re-gather Alfred's courage to go and apologize to him._

 _But the day he finally had gathered courage to apologize, Arthur skipped school._

 _Alfred sighed, sinking down his bedroom door after another exhausting day. He wanted to cry, he felt like he couldn't do much of anything. The American forgot about his homework, forgot about the test the next day, forgot about everything and just slept._

 _When he woke up, it was almost eight and his mother was banging on the door._

" _Alfred Fredrick Jones! Get up this instant or you will be late to school!" His mother yelled over and over again._

" _Yeah… sure. I'm up." The blonde said loud enough so his mother could hear._

 _His mother stopped banging on the door, "Are you alright? You never oversleep and you are usually bouncing with energy."_

 _Alfred opened the door and managed a smile, "I'm fine mom, and I'm heading off to school." The glasses clad man grabbed his keys to his car and drove to school._

 _His day went on like a broken record, class after class after class._

 _It was lunch break, and Alfred had decided not to eat and instead use his time to walk around campus. There were a few students who were doing the same, some who he had called friends. Ever since he fell into his slump, the blonde's friends had started to avoid him._

 _He felt alone, tired, ready to crash at any moment. He sat on a nearby bench- he laughed- bitterly, and cruelly. The overweight American laughed, laughed at himself, at his own pain. "All of this over one person? How stupid. I didn't even care about him, so why am I like this? I hated him!" He continued laughing, his mind becoming a jumbled mess._

" _Oi."_

 _To Be Continued_


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: THIS IS REALLY SHORT TOO. But, that's fine… right? Eheh. Sorry for the weird paced updates. Also, I'm working on something special, it has nothing to do with this show; however, it's quite the popular one right now… Here you go! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

" _Oi."_

 _The blonde stopped laughing, thinking he could hear someone. Alfred didn't look up though, he didn't want to look at anyone at the moment._

 _The man put a hand on his shoulder, "Alfred." The voice was hard, stern, and recognizable, "Look at me, Alfred."_

 _Alfred was shaking figuring out who it was, his hands were folded together tightly, and his knuckles were turning white._

" _Look at me, goddammit!" He said grabbing Alfred's face and pulling so Alfred was looking directly into his eyes._

 _Arthur looked at him shocked, "You're… you- you're… crying?!"_

 _Alfred tried not to look at Arthur tears going down the sides of his face. Alfred's face looked like a child's._

" _Why? ….Why?" Arthur's face became twisted with confusion._

" _I-I I'm sorry… sorry… no, that's not right. … I'm not sorry. Why should I be? I'm the one that's been suffering all this time, so why should I be SORRY?!" Alfred's face became angrier and his voice became louder._

 _Alfred stood up, angry tears dripping down his face. He charged at Arthur, "WHY SHOULD I BE SORRY? I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS SUFFERED!" He threw a punch directed at Arthur's face._

 _Arthur dodged it and slapped the American._

" _SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT! You need to stop this instant! You are not yourself! I don't know what you think you have been doing, or why you've been suffering, but I-" Arthur was cut off by a punch to the stomach by Alfred._

" _I don't think you fucking understand what I've been through right now. I just want you gone!"_

 _The brit slapped him again, harder this time. "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. I don't want to hear that shit right now! Listen, I really was just here to-"_

" _To WHAT? To gloat in my face? To say how much better you are than me? Huh?"_

" _NO, Alfred. APOLOGIZE! I was going to apologize."_

 _The glasses clad man stopped dead, he looked at Arthur and didn't say anything for what felt like forever, "Really?"_

" _Yes." He stated simply, pulling out a box and a lighter._

" _What're those?"_

" _Cigarettes?" Arthur said like it was the most obvious thing ever as he lit one._

" _When…?" The overweight man could barely form a sentence._

" _I dunno. Sometime ago." The bushy-browed brit puffed a cloud of smoke out._

" _You know…"_

" _Yes, I know it's horrible for me, but you wanna know something about it? I don't give a shit."_

 _Alfred sat back on the bench, took a deep breath in, calming himself, "You should."_

" _Well, I don't." The brit sat next the American on the bench._

" _Stop."_

" _Can't."_

" _Please."_

" _I already told you, I can't. If I go even two days without one I feel like I'm going to die."_

" _Help?"_

" _Won't work."_

" _Hand them over." Alfred looked at Arthur with a glare._

 _Taken aback his voice quivered slightly, "N-No."_

" _Now." The deadly eyes added to his menacing voice._

 _Reluctantly, the blonde brit gave him the box of cigarettes._

" _Good. I'm sorry too bro, I don't know why I lashed out like that." The smile Alfred gave him may have been fake, but at least it was a smile._

 _The next few days went by, Alfred started acting more normally, however it wasn't quite the same for the brit._

 _Arthur texted Alfred for the hundredth time that day, he felt uneasy, nauseous, hot, sweaty and extremely jumpy. "Come on, Alfred. Please answer. Please… I need you right now." He whispered to himself._

 _It was early evening and Arthur had completely given up cigarettes, and was experiencing serious withdrawal. A migraine was settling in, Arthur ran to kitchen to grab one. "One. Just one… it can't hurt, can it?" Hands shaking, he grabbed a cigarette. He ransacked the house for a lighter, only finding a single match._

 _The brit could barely light the match; his hands were shaking so badly. The match was lit, he only had to light the cigarette and then he would feel better… so much better._

" _STOP!" The front door slammed open and Arthur's only friend had come to save him. He dropped the unlit cigarette._

" _Al-Alfred. Help me."_


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Ummmm, I'm still mapping out the story, so SORRY FOR THE FILLER, there will most likely be one more filler before I get back on track with things. I just need to finished mapping things out for each chapter then we are good to go for fast updates! Well, at least… hopefully. Not sure how long it will be until the next update though… soorry aboot that. That's all. Enjoy~**

Chapter 6

Arthur had tried just about everything to get Alfred out of his trance-like state. It had been a good fifteen minutes before he decided to just give up and do something else. The grumpy brit read some of his book, watched some cooking channel on the television.

Getting bored all too quickly, Arthur got up and decided to try and get Alfred out of his state. Grinning with an evil aura, Arthur got a glass of water and proceeded to dump it over the Americans face.

With a dripping face Alfred jumped, and almost broke the window frame. He let out a yelp and blinked multiple times. Now realizing where he was, he looked at his surroundings and tried to move.

"Did you forget? You're still stuck, and I thought you had at least gained some common sense." The blonde brit told him with a very smug face.

"Why am I wet? Wait… that was YOU dude! Wasn't it?" The glasses clad man yelled accusingly, glaring.

Arthur feigned innocence, "What? No! Of course not!" Even if there was an innocent voice, his face didn't match at all.

"It WAS you! How could you!"

"Maybe it's because you were sleeping or something! It's been …over an hour!" The bushy-browed brit yelled at him glancing at the clock, surprising himself with the time.

"Ah sweet! Dude that means only an hour left right?" The American said excitedly.

"Actually-"

"BRO! I'm so fricken hungry! Like, I could eat sixteen cows right now! Can you go get me some food? Preferably some Mickey D's! I could really go for some right about now! I want some! Arthur! Get me some food! I'm really hungry!"

"Ugh… Could you at least use some kind of manners?"

"But I'm HUNGRY!" The overweight man dragged out the last word for a few extra seconds.

"What do you want then?!"

"FOOD!"

"That is no help whatsoever!"

"Well I told you want I wanted right? It shouldn't be that hard!" Alfred said like it was too obvious.

Arthur just groaned, "Okay… you know what? Fine! I just won't get you anything!" The green-eyed brit said grabbing his wallet.

"NO! DON'T LEAVE! AT LEAST BRING ME SOME FOOOOD! I'M GOING TO DIE WITHOUT IT!"

"Bye Alfred, be back in a little bit!" Arthur said holding back a laugh.

Arthur walked out of his house and walked to the closest pizzeria. The brit didn't know how much pizza the American ate, but He decided it would be a ton. The bushy-browed brit ordered three pizzas for Alfred and one for himself.

After paying and leaving, he left the pizzas on his doorstep, and decided last minute to take a walk down towards the beach. The sun was setting in the clouds, setting an awfully familiar feeling of loneliness. The brit hadn't been around someone for that long in a long time. His usual days were filled with loneliness. Of course, he had the people at the library to chat with, and his editor for the book reviews.

He remembered he could at least go visit his sick father and talk to him. They had a good relationship. The brit would often visit and talk to him, but every time he did, the bushy-browed brit wanted to cry. He wanted to cry now, just thinking about it.

But he smiled, Arthur smiled.

The brit just needed to clear his mind and forget his father was sick. He took a deep breath in, and walked back to his house, taking a longer, more scenic route. He watched the skies of gray turn to a black almost blue.

Returning to his own home, he picked up the pizza boxes, luckily they were still warm. "Alfred! I'm back!" There was no response. He walked further in, "Alfred? Are you in here?"

The brit could faintly hear hissing and grunts coming from the bathroom.

Just to make sure Arthur walked over to the kitchen to see a disassembled window frame with a slight wind coming from the air outside. He placed the pizza boxes that were still in hand on the counter. The brit walked silently over to the bathroom and knocked on the door lightly, as if it would fall off its hinges if he knocked any harder.

The painful groans stopped as a shuffling noise was made coming closer to the door and opening it. In the door frame was a teary-eyed American, with a pain stricken face.

"Are you alright, Alfred?" Arthur asked cautiously.

"NO! I'M NOT OKAY! The window people came while you were out and… they cut the window frame out…" The glasses clad man leaned in closer to the Brit, as if telling a deathly secret. "They were so close, man…. This close" The overweight man held up two fingers centimeters apart.

"That close to what?" The bushy-browed man asked bluntly.

"To cutting a hole in me, that's what!" Alfred yelled in horror.

"Calm down, you're fine. So they got the window out, but how did they get you out of the actual frame?" The green-eyed man's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"They pulled me out. It was so not cool! It hurt a ton too!" The blue-eyed man whined. He pulled up his shirt so Arthur could see a distinct red ring of raw skin. "Look!"

"Well… that's terrible really. I brought the pizza back." The grumpy Brit awkwardly changed the subject and frantically turned around.

"PIIZZZZAAA!" Alfred yelled running to the kitchen, cursing in pain every now and again.

Arthur sighed, "Same old Alfred, just like always."


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hey! This is REALLY LATE… Yeah, I finally got out of a writer's block so yeah! Enjoy!**

Chapter 7

Walking into the kitchen, Alfred had already wolfed down three slices, and was currently trying to devour another two.

"You know that I need to eat as well, right?" Arthur asked warily, leaning on the doorway.

"Yeah…, that's why I left some for you. I may be hungry, but I'm not rude." Alfred said his mouth full of pizza.

The blonde brit just sighed and let out a sarcastic remark, "Really? Because I believe that to be so true. Honestly, I don't even like pizza that much."

Alfred just stared wide-eyed, "What?! But -everyone- how do you not like pizza?"

Arthur's only response was him reaching over Alfred to grab a mug and a tea kettle, surprising the American. He didn't say anything, just a small eye-widen and a slightly pink face.

"So…."

"Uh…."

As the two fully grown men spoke at the same time, an awkward air set in. The two had no idea how to go about a normal conversation between two people.

"So, I was wondering, what exactly is Matthew doing? All you said is that he was visiting a friend in England."

"Well, actually they're meeting half way, Mattie couldn't pay for a ticket all the way to East Germany, so the two decided to meet half way, which happened to be England. That's all my dude." Alfred said calmly.

"Wait…. That was the FIRST TIME I'VE EVER HEARD YOU CALM!" The most sarcastic retort came from a British voice trying to have an American accent.

"HEY! I can be calm, I'll have you know!" The fake British American accent came from a certain blonde-slightly overweight man.

"Oh so now you're imitating me, is that it? Well then, I'll have you know that British accents are superior over the American accent." The blonde Brit balled his hands in fists, put them on his own waist, and stuck out his tongue.

"Really? Is that so? Which country has a Broadway Musical after one of their founding fathers?" Alfred spit out one of the first thoughts he had.

Arthur just laughed.

That reminded the Bushy-eyeborwed Brit of one of the "better" moments in high school. It definitely wasn't a highlight, but it was better, one of the times during their first year of high school where the two idiots actually decided to be "mature".

"You cooky-eyed twat!" The English teen reprimanded the American.

"Hey! You're not my mother, OLD MAN!" The glasses clad teen retorted with a nasty sneer.

Arthur's biology class had just been in the middle of dissecting fetal pigs. They sat right next to each other in the lab and were forced to be partners because of it. Alfred had been way too excited about the particular lab, and had almost cut himself with the scalpel, making Arthur yell.

"Boys, stop fighting." The teacher told them.

They quieted down not wanting to get in trouble, and continued the dissection. Through each passing moment, each boy got more annoyed with each other. Arthur in particular almost had a vein popping out of his head. The reason for it was because Alfred had decided to annoy the Brit by humming to a nonexistent tune in his head.

"Quit it, will you? I'm trying to focus." The Brit whispered angrily.

"Hmm?" Alfred feigned innocence and continued humming, "I have no idea what you're talking about." A smirk tugged at Alfred's lips.

"I'm talking about your humming! It's distracting me!" Arthur's voice rose to a quiet conversational level.

"What? Me? I'm not humming." Alfred continued his obvious act.

"Oh, I believe you are." Again, the green-eyed teen's voice rose in level; his eyes challenging Alfred.

The American didn't say anything, he just continuing to hum, accepting the challenge. As the humming slowly got louder, the teacher noticed.

"Alfred. Arthur. Is one of you humming?" The serious teacher asked.

"Nope, but I do believe it was my 'friend' Arthur over here that was humming!" Alfred said cheerfully before the brit had any time to get a word out.

"You're bloody lying! He's lying! You're such a TWAT!" Arthur started yelling shoving Alfred off the stool.

"Hey! Stop that!" Alfred yelled, pushing Arthur off the stool in the same manner as the bushy-browed brit. They bumped heads together glaring at each other, clasping the others hands as if trying to break the other teen's hand.

"Enough! Boys! BOYS! THAT'S ENOUGH!" The teacher yelled. "GO TO THE ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE!"

Both boys jumped back from each other, and seemed to shrink in size at the voice of their biology teacher. Quietly walking out of the classroom, the American and Brit didn't speak a word to each other.

As the two boys arrived to the administrative office, the lady at the desk just sighed, "What is it?"

"W-We…" Arthur's voice trailed off sounding scared and frail.

"Uh.. we were told by the freshman biology teacher to go here because he was humming and then-"

"I was NOT humming! It was YOU that was humming!" Arthur suddenly yelled.

"IT WAS SO NOT ME!" Alfred argued.

"Really? I do BELIEVE SO!"

"BOYS!" The lady yelled. "Give me your best innocence case, both of you are getting three Saturday detentions, the rest of the punishment goes to the most innocent." She yelled glaring at the two before sighing.

"Well… I'll go first! I totally didn't do it, kay? I'm not the type to hum." Alfred said with a squirmish body and pouting face.

"He's lying! He started all of this… I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him! He's an idiot too! I'm not to blame, I was just trying to work!" The green-eyed brit yelled agitated.

"I have my verdict, Alfred you can go, Arthur, come have a chat with me." The lady half-yelled and glared at Arthur.

"Hah! Sucks to be you!" Alfred called over his shoulder as he walked out.

"Now then… Lets talk." The desk-lady said with a what seemed to be a mocking grin.

Mature wasn't a great word to use, the two were probably more childish than most, but they didn't start wrestling like they usually did. Arthur remembered how he got suspended from school because of the American. He was agitated enough when the lady wanted to talk to him, he started getting very sassy. The lady ended up getting angrier than needed and he got suspended for a few days. His mother had locked him out of the house for school hours as punishment.

"Duuuuuuuuuude. Come back from Mars dude!" Alfred was leaning over the Brit waving a hand in his face.

"Huh?" Arthur asked a little spaced-out.

"I have to leave sometime you know. Mattie called while you were spaced out, and I gotta get back to the hotel. I'll see ya later 'kay?" Alfred called heading towards the door.

"Uh, yeah, see you." Alfred called sighing. He was glad to haven Alfred, but he was too much to handle.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hello~ It's me, I'm alive. I've come back from the dead and have probably changed way more than I should have. Anyways, I was thinking I was never going to continue this story, but I was reading a bit and got a few ideas and whatnot. Needless to say, I'm currently mapping out the rest of the story as it goes on and I hope you enjoy it very much, thank you for reading!**

The next couple of days went on slowly, not many visitors came to the library and no word from Alfred whatsoever. Arthur had just finished his break for the morning and was currently placing books back to their original spot when one book caught his eye.

It was called, "A Lesson Before Dying" written by Ernest J. Gaines, Arthur read the summary on the back and was interested. It was American literature, but supposedly had an award from "Oprah's Book Club". Arthur then stopped what he was doing for the moment and started reading the book.

As he was getting into the first few pages; however, he was unfortunately cut off by a hard slap on the back.

"What the hell was that?" The blonde brit grumbled.

"Hey Bud! How's it going?" Alfred asked with and irritatingly bright smile.

"Great, until you came." Arthur snapped.

The American feigned shock and sadness, "How could you say that?! I thought we were friends!"

The green-eyed Brit's only response was, "Uh-huh."

"Anyways," Alfred said going back to his smiling state, "I noticed that book you have there. Is it good?"

"I'm not sure, I haven't gotten in too far in it yet." Arthur responded.

"Oooh… sounds great… but, can I read it? I saw it yesterday and I really wanted to read it." Alfred asked tentatively.

"Well, your luck is nowhere to be found here because I have plans to read this book right now." Arthur had a slightly smug look on his face.

"Buuuut, it _is_ American literature, right? So, I should read it first." The blue-eyed man said grabbing for the book.

Arthur pulled the book away before Alfred grabbed it, "Yes, but I want to read and review this book for my blog. So I should read it first."

"No, I want to read it more than you!"

"Don't lie to me, when have you ever liked reading?" The blonde accused.

"You may not know this, but I happen to love reading… comics… and visual novels… and- You get the point!" Alfred started to raise his voice to a yell.

"Arthur! Why are you yelling again? Is there something you can't reach?! I told you to get the ladder instead of trying something stupid!" Arthur's boss yelled walking to the problem.

"Sorry Ma'am." Arthur quickly apologized.

The boss just sighed and looked at Alfred, "Was it you who I heard screaming?" She didn't wait for him to answer, "Get out of my library and come back when you can act like a person."

She walked away and Alfred looked at Arthur, "So I guess you can have the book for now…"

"Uh… yeah I suppose so."

The two looked at each other again and Alfred started giggling, "Pffft…. Man how did we manage this?"

Arthur smiled, "You mean you getting kicked out of the library of a non-comic book?"

"Haha yeah that…" The over-weighted American trailed off leading into a slightly comfortable silence.

After what seemed to be a short minute, "Hey… do you maybe want to go for coffee at my house and talk?" Arthur asked sounding embarrassed. He had never really asked someone to come over to his house before.

"Hell yes!" Alfred shout-whispered before leaving as h had just been kicked out of the library.

"See you after work then…" The blonde brit mumbled and smiled softly watching his friend leave.

~O~O~O~O~O~O

Arthur had thought Alfred was going to be quite civilized and actually do what they had planned: A relaxing evening with some coffee (or tea) and small chit chat. But oh of course -he has always known- he was quite wrong.

At the moment Arthur was having a fight with Alfred, but not the expected kind of fight. The two were currently battling to the death with Arthurs nice couch cushions and pillows. With the couch being hid behind by a certain blue-eyed man and a fort being built by a green-eyed man, the two tried desperately to knock the other out.

"You old man! You will never defeat me and my impenetrable castle!" Alfred yelled.

"Hah! I'm the SAME AGE as you, you dolt! And don't think that my fort will be taken down so easily!" Arthur started throwing pillows across the room.

Alfred got up and ran to collect all the fallen pillows, and so had Arthur. The two chased each other around the house throwing pillows and insults-all while laughing-until what seemed to be hours later.

"Hah..! I've beat you!" Arthur was laying on the ground, inside the pillow fort next to Alfred who was doing the same.

"Nuh-uh… I totally beat you." Alfred said with a tired expression on his face.

Arthur thought for a second, he had never really seen the American ball of energy so tired and worn out, but still happy. Seeing Alfred's expression however cause the not-so grumpy brit to yawn. "Yeah sure… you liar…" he trailed off as the brit let sleep consume him for the moment, almost knowing the other was doing the same.

~O~O~O~O~O~O

Alfred woke up with a strange comforting warmth next to him. It was extremely dark and he couldn't really tell what time it was. The next thing Alfred happened to notice is that Arthur was with him. Alfred's head was resting on the brit's arm which had found its way around the American's shoulders. Blushing slightly in the dark Alfred was careful to get out of the fort and leave quietly only seeing the time of 2:27 a.m.

Alfred walked out of the flat and smiled to himself chuckling quietly in realization.


End file.
